Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Production photograph of the floating monolith

“From the very onset of the work on the film we all discussed means of photographically depicting extraterrestrial creatures in a manner that would be as mind-boggling as the being itself. And it soon became apparent that you cannot imagine the unimaginable. All you can do is try to represent it in an artistic manner that will convey something of its quality. That’s why we settled on the black monolith—which is, of course, in itself something of a Jungian archetype, and also a pretty fair example of ‘Minimal Art.’” —Stanley Kubrick